Federal Financing Bank

Estimated Effects on the Maturity Composition of the Federal Debt Gao ID: GGD-86-43 March 21, 1986

GAO reviewed the effect of the Federal Financing Bank's (FFB) activities on the maturity of the federal debt.

GAO found that: (1) as a result of the borrowing relationship between FFB and the Treasury, relatively long-term federal agency debt has been displaced in the market by short-term Treasury debt; (2) using FFB for intragovernmental borrowing has shortened the maturity of outstanding federal debt held by the public; (3) the FFB share of outstanding federal debt has grown from 3.4 percent during 1974 to 11.9 percent by the end of 1983; (4) as a result of the displacement of agency debt, $60.9 billion in outstanding government securities matured within 5 years; (5) the shift in the maturity of federal debt comprised 7.26 percent of all outstanding federal securities as of 1983; and (6) the maturity composition of the current Treasury debt is, therefore, shorter when compared to the maturity of the debt that would have prevailed if federal agencies did not have access to FFB.



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